After last week’s decision by the government of Tasmania to allow exchange betting, the other Australian states are drawing up legislation to prevent their races being used by operators of this controversial form of betting.

The state of Southern Australia is currently drafting a law that would ban exchange betting and prohibit the use of South Australian racing data by anyone without the agreement of the “racing controlling authority”.

The state of Victoria already has legislation in place that protects racing data against unauthorized use and the other states are expected to introduce similar tough legislation.

Considering the continuing strong opposition against exchange betting by the Australian racing authorities and the other states except Tasmania, strong doubts remain as to whether betting exchanges will be able to develop any substantial business in Australia.